Monorails to no longer operate during Evening Extra Magic Hours

[Finally08]

I never thought the walk to the Contemporary was bad. Once you walked to the right to the monorail, went UPHILL to it, waited in a crowd to board, smashed into the monorail to get there...well heck, I would rather walk.

We only stayed there once and probably hit MK on 4 days while there....I think we ride the monorail back once and walked every other time (and that one time it was me by myself with a crapload of bags from shopping on Main St!).

It is a fair walk and I do have a younger child...but she has a stroller.

 

[Traveliz]

I'm curious...... those of you who think the walk back to the Contemporary is not biggie........ do any of you have little kids?

Well my kids are all grown now but we travel with lots of little ones and for us we would choose the walk back to the Contemporary (honestly) every time over taking the monorail from the MK back to the Contemporary. I find if you exit coming out of MK to the left rather than the farther right exits and just go on, it is a quick walk (even with kids/strollers/etc). And when I see that long line stretched down into the MK admission area to leave by monorail I would much rather keep walking.

I don't find the street bad to cross either. The buses that are zipping by generally do not zip through the intersection (they turn into the Contemporary, MK or out of before the cross walk). You do have to check for traffic but I have found it to be fine in my walks over there.

Liz

 

[FireDancer]

I did a quick comparison between walking from the front entrance up to the monorail and to the entrance of the contemporary. The difference is roughly 600 meters. 600 meters! Not even far enough to be considered a decent warmup at the track.

As for crossing traffic I am not worried at all. I've walked around LA, Rome, Florence, Chicago, and a lot of other cities without getting killed by a vehicle. I will take my chances on the limited access roads around Disney.

 

[Planogirl]

I did a quick comparison between walking from the front entrance up to the monorail and to the entrance of the contemporary. The difference is roughly 600 meters. 600 meters! Not even far enough to be considered a decent warmup at the track.

As for crossing traffic I am not worried at all. I've walked around LA, Rome, Florence, Chicago, and a lot of other cities without getting killed by a vehicle. I will take my chances on the limited access roads around Disney.

It's a little more difficult when you have young kids. I don't consider the walk bad either but I can sympathize with those who have kids with short legs to deal with.

 

[Planogirl]

I remember once when we stayed at the Allstars trying to leave DHS after Fantasmic in a raging thunderstorm. The line for the Allstar buses was endless and everyone was drenched and upset. We grabbed a cab.

I'm trying to imagine a similar scenario with monorail resort guests waiting for buses trying to leave MK.

 

[TLSnell1981]

I did a quick comparison between walking from the front entrance up to the monorail and to the entrance of the contemporary. The difference is roughly 600 meters. 600 meters! Not even far enough to be considered a decent warmup at the track.

As for crossing traffic I am not worried at all. I've walked around LA, Rome, Florence, Chicago, and a lot of other cities without getting killed by a vehicle. I will take my chances on the limited access roads around Disney.

The lighting and streets, don't really compare... apples to apples.

 

[Cinders Mum]

Having read all the posts, and commented a couple of times myself... the position is less clear now (For MY situation) than at the start.
our last 4 nights are at the Poly. We deliberately added an extra MNSSHP night on our first night there, because of the proximity to the park at the end of the party.
The only other possible "issue" is IF we do pmEMH @ EP, which we might or might not do, but a bus back is not the end of the world (for us.)

I am gonna sit on my hands and see what happens, of course by then, my balance due date will be past, and i am tied into heftier penalties for cancellation and changes...

The hard ticket events contingency plans are (for us) the toughest to swallow in this whole situation, AND also the least defined in terms of Disney Policy.

So, Rock and a Hard Place, nice to meet you !!

 

[Tikitoi]

So, if you are staying at the Poly, Grand Floridian or Contemporary resort, what other trans will there be for that, during EMH? I didn't think there were busses avail for the mono specific resorts.

 

[notnothin]

I'm curious...... those of you who think the walk back to the Contemporary is not biggie........ do any of you have little kids?

I sure do, and it's not a problem to carry them at all! Hardly more than walking around to wait on the monorail.

 

[Tikitoi]

I sure do, and it's not a problem to carry them at all! Hardly more than walking around to wait on the monorail.

Agree!

 

[Cafeen]

So, if you are staying at the Poly, Grand Floridian or Contemporary resort, what other trans will there be for that, during EMH? I didn't think there were busses avail for the mono specific resorts.

You have existing watercraft (where applicable) and they will be adding buses as well, likely similar in nature to what they do when the monorail goes down for a period of time.

 

[lovethattink]

Do we have any live reports from last night's EMH at Epcot? At least, I think last night was EMH?

 

[FireDancer]

It's a little more difficult when you have young kids. I don't consider the walk bad either but I can sympathize with those who have kids with short legs to deal with.

True but the only time this really matters as of now is for EEMH and I would wager the vast majority of people with kids that young won't be out that late. Of course all the exceptions will be in this thread since that is usually what happens but I doubt it will be that big of a deal for most of them since they would have left the park while the monorail was still running. Some of the responses seem like they are assuming the monorail will never be running as opposed to just not running after the first hour of EEMH.

The lighting and streets, don't really compare... apples to apples.

You are right, which is why I did it. The lighting and streets at Disney on limited access roads are much safer for pedestrians then crossing barely lit streets with heavy traffic in the neighborhoods of Rome and Florence.

and a COMPLETELY different issue for a wheel chair or scooter to get across that busy street!

Disney is pretty good about taking care of guests with disabilities so I'm sure they will figure something out. If that extra 600 meters is beyond them I'm sure there will be an alternative.

At the same time I see people downtown everyday that have mobility issues deal with traffic and street crossing in a city with much more dangerous roads than Disney. Surely someone who lives in NYC has mobility issues and manages it.

 

[cindyfan]

I agree because the walkway is what sets apart the Monorail Resorts, that's if people want to stay somehwere that gets them back to their resort from the Magic Kingdom as fast as possible.

I also doubt there will be a bus from the Magic Kingdom to the Contemporary because of the walkway. A few years ago when I left the Magic Kingdom one night and was walking towards the Resort Monorail ramp a Cast Member said if we are going to the Contemporary use the walkway because there was an issue with the Monorail. So it's not like they added a bus will be along shortly because there was no other option besides the walkway.

totally, totally .... disagree!
They MUST have some kind of bus to handle any handicapped guests.
It's one thing to get to the buses..... and a COMPLETELY different issue for a wheel chair or scooter to get across that busy street!

 

[GadgetRick]

Okay. A) My employer (the company) makes changes that affect customers and or employees. They inform us of these changes but not necessarily the reason behind them. That's their right. In this case, WDW probably provided the reason to the Orlando Sentinel reporter because, well, he asked . Good at his job.
B) Just guessing, but - this is when it needed to be done? I think that same article pointed out that with some EMH running until 3AM, and it taking 90 minutes to both cycle down and cycle up the system, some nights [during the summer*] the monorail is only 'down' for an hour.
C) Given a choice between shutting down the monorail system at a fairly regular time every day, and shutting it down completely for any period of time, which would you choose? You've seen the anger, horror, and panic here over two hour cuts two or three nights a week.

*added by me based on WDW knowledge/experience, not stated in article

Like the other, "it's for the maintenance!" people, you're making broad assumptions that there is MAJOR maintenance needed. NOBODY has EVER said this and, again, Disney (in the past) has been very up front when taking attractions down for major maintenance/refurbs yet, in this case, there wasn't a lot of that (until word got out and they then said it's for much needed maintenance all of a sudden) and there has been a lot of confirmed comments/memos (from internal employees) who say this is permanent. If maintenance was the real issue, this would hardly be permanent.

And I know permanent doesn't always mean permanent. However, they wouldn't use that kind of language if it were not planned to be permanent.

I just don't buy the excuse. I've been going to WDW for over 20 years. I've noticed the decline. This is another (relatively) minor thing they're doing which smells of he cost-cutting the current regime has been involved with over the years. I have still gone but I'm going less and spending less. Does it bother Disney? I doubt it. However, I'm hearing more and more people express the same sentiments.

 

[GadgetRick]

I'm curious...... those of you who think the walk back to the Contemporary is not biggie........ do any of you have little kids?

I stayed there with a 5 month old and a 3 year old. It really is not a long walk. And it's faster than a monorail to get back to CR.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Like the other, "it's for the maintenance!" people, you're making broad assumptions that there is MAJOR maintenance needed.

I wasn't assuming anything. I was trying to answer your question using information provided by a seemingly reliable Orlando Sentinel reporter.

and, again, Disney (in the past) has been very up front when taking attractions down for major maintenance/refurbs

The monorail, despite how passionately some people are reacting, isn't an attraction. It's transportation. And it's not being 'taken down'; it's simply going to be operating on a somewhat regular daily schedule. The monorails will still be operating every day, starting before the appropriate parks open, during all the hours those parks are open to the general public, and ending an hour after those parks close to that customer base. After that time, the routes will be handled by scheduled (vs. emergency) buses.

The sky isn't falling.

 

[minandmick]

If they do away with EMH in the evening,

We will NOT buy into DVC. There are to many other Deluxe hotel/bigger condo timeshare options in the area to justify the price of DVC.

It would be better financially to pay the price of parking, drive "home" offsite in the afternoon for dinner and then come back for the later park hours. Or better yet, leave WDW in the afternoon, have a nice dinner and end up at one Universal for the evening....


I'm not saying that EMH is the only reason why we are considering a DVC but it is a part of the pros when we consider the Disney area as a whole.

Without EMH, what would the real perks (besides being "immersed in the magic") be of staying onsite? The Dining Plan? Shorter bus rides, (but longer lines)? I don't think so.

If Disney is going to start treating us like regular old 5& dime hotel guests, they better start charging us like them too... with better hotel rooms for our $$$ we are spending. If this is the way they are heading...Swan, Dolphin, Downtown Disney and Bonnet Creek, here we come.

 

[larryz]

If they do away with EMH in the evening...

I agree with all your points, but any remarks in that direction have just been speculation. It's the "domino theory" that a cutback in monorail hours will lead to lower EMH attendance, thus to the eventual elimination of evening EMH.

So far, nobody's quoted any official announcements concerning EMH.

 

[TLSnell1981]

You are right, which is why I did it. The lighting and streets at Disney on limited access roads are much safer for pedestrians then crossing barely lit streets with heavy traffic in the neighborhoods of Rome and Florence.

I totally disagree. First off all, you have nowhere near, the numbers crossing with children, that you do in Disney. Second of all, it's not safe to cross, barely lit streets, anywhere. I've traveled with children in every city you've mentioned...I just believe, it's not a good comparison. IMO